beauty blog, cosmetic reviews, makeup tips, skin care advice

January 31, 2013February 20, 2013

the Beauté Board | Online Cosmetic Magazine | February 2013

FEBRUARY 2013

IT’S HEART MONTH! Curious about what a Cosmetic Monster does during the day? Scan the QR Code and see! I work as a CPR Instructor (amongst countless other duties) at AED INSTITUTE that also has a non-profit arm called HAWAII HEART FOUNDATION(I’ve been planning our annual fundraiser which explains my recent absence). Our mission is essentially to make Hawaii heart safe through positive and pro-active CPR & AED awareness training. I’ll be posting a Quick Heart Guide this month so that you can educate yourself and those you love on what to do in case of a heart attack or a sudden cardiac arrest (they’re different).

On a lighter note, we are starting to see the first of Spring 2013 cosmetic offerings which are literally abloom with pink. The Dior Cherie Bow Collection deals out bold doses of rose and contrasting charcoal and the softer Laura Mercier Arabesque Collection portraits the color in a more subtle way blending the feminine tone with neutrals and soft blues.

COMING THIS MONTH: Besides the Quick Heart Guide, I’ll be doing the annual Cosmetic Monster Chinese New Year Feature – the Year of the Snake, reviewing the brilliant Christopher Drummond cosmetic line,How to get GLOWING Skin Tricks and a special Top Ten To Trash (Bad Beauty Products) – you’ll be surprised who I pulled out of the garbage heap.

Happy 5th Anniversary to my husband Kevin – who patiently waits for me when I do “research” at Sephora.

Deborah Walters (Senior VP and Merchandise Manager for Cosmetics & Fragrances at Saks Fifth Avenue – sigh) commented in Allure Magazine (February 2013, The Next Big Things): “Custom-made skincare lines never resonated, and we couldn’t figure out why. It should have been the ultimate in personalization.”

If you think about the psychology of skin care – the reason its a multi-gazillion dollar business is because women (myself included) want to be a better version of themselves – and we buy into the marketing wholeheartedly. We think “Maybe if I use this cream, my skin will glow like Alana de la Garza (from Law & Order – her skin is gorgeous!). We spend thousands of dollars because gosh darn it, we’re worth it! So if I have a cream made “just for me” what will happen? Will I end up, well, “just me”? Hmm…maybe if you used an ad that featured an image of my face looking smoother, glowing, I-got-8-hours-of-sleep-because-my-3-year-old-let-me minus any well earned sunspots, maybe I could buy into that. Otherwise, I’ll stick to the possibility of Alana-esque skin.

Make Up For Ever Pro Finish Multi-Use Powder Foundation ($36, sephora.com). With all the hype surrounding this powder foundation, I suppose I started with extreme expectations. The texture is very nice (VERY) and yes, it has 25 shades to choose from – but they are mostly too dark and too golden (translate: orange) for most skin tones.
However, if you have darker, tanned skin and lean toward golden shades (which are actually hard shades to find) you’re in luck. I highly recommend trying it on in-store (eww) and wearing it for a few hours before purchasing.